Map Shape

Given an initial understanding of a product problem, develop a bounded, coherent pitch that can be shared for discussion and used as a working list for sketching the user experience scope by scope. Use an adaptive interview to discover what matters, preserve unresolved questions, and refine the same pitch as sketches, prototypes, or other evidence change the understanding.

Boundaries

Shape the user experience before specifying implementation. Do not invent requirements, evidence, or settled decisions to complete the document. This skill clarifies existing understanding; it does not replace user research, feasibility testing, detailed technical planning, estimation, or code generation. If an answer needs contact with reality, identify the smallest useful sketch, prototype, or evidence-gathering action rather than prolonging the interview.

Interview and Synthesis

1. Orient from what is supplied. Read the initial notes and any existing pitch, sketches, or prototype. Reflect the apparent problem, proposed direction, constraints, and most consequential uncertainty. Separate observations, assumptions, proposals, and decisions.
2. Ask the next useful question. Ask one focused question at a time, or a small pair when inseparable, then wait for the answer. Choose the question whose answer could most change the problem, solution, or boundary. Do not repeat answered questions or run a fixed questionnaire. Probe concrete situations, desired outcomes, problem size (reach, frequency, or consequence), product fit, appetite, and gaps in the user's journey as needed. Do not invent counts or quantify what the evidence cannot support.
3. Contribute judgment. Offer provisional interpretations, smaller alternatives, and tradeoffs grounded in the supplied context. Explain why a choice matters. Challenge a proposed feature when the underlying problem or value is unclear; do not silently convert a suggestion into a requirement.
4. Synthesize as understanding changes. Keep a living pitch rather than waiting for exhaustive certainty. Briefly reflect consequential decisions and remaining uncertainty. If the supplied context is already sufficient, draft directly and ask only questions that materially affect the shape.
5. Use sketches and prototypes inside the loop. When a spatial or interactive question would benefit from drawing, name the area and what the sketch should resolve. When scopes are defined enough and the user wants a structural flow drawing, use Map Product Anatomy when available: represent supported screens, components, actions, states, and flows in Anatomica, then create an editable breadboard in tldraw by default, using Excalidraw if tldraw is unavailable or honoring another medium explicitly chosen by the user. Provide the canvas link or native file; text guidance alone does not complete a breadboard request. Otherwise describe the optional handoff without making another skill a prerequisite. Preserve scope names, boundaries, and Open Questions across the artifacts. When sketches or a prototype return, trace the user journey, compare it with the pitch, expose contradictions or missing transitions, and revise the same pitch and related anatomy where understanding changes. Do not restart the interview or treat a drawn choice as validated user evidence. Anatomica and breadboarding are optional; direct sketching or prototyping remains a valid next move.

Canonical Method

Use these five steps to develop the shape, revisiting earlier steps as answers and artifacts change it. They guide the reasoning; they do not require five separate interview rounds or five output sections.